The Lotte Berk Technique

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BBC Radio 4 - The Lotte Berk Technique

Nadine Shah embarks on a personal journey into the controversial fitness phenomenon Barre.

Musician Nadine Shah, tackling grief and her first tour in two years, immerses herself in the fitness phenomenon Barre and the controversial story of its originator, Lotte Berk.

Barre, a series of minuscule, punishing exercises which mix pilates, ballet, and yoga, is the global fitness phenomenon of the 2020s, but its history is complicated and controversial.

Lotte Berk, a Jewish dancer who fled Nazi Germany for London, found herself out of work and developed the technique to maintain her dancer’s body. In her classes she encouraged women to have better sex, with positions called The Prostitute, Naughty Bottoms and The Sex. Her clientele included Joan Collins, Pru Leith and Edna O'Brien.

Eventually she sold the rights to her workout, and barre evolved into a sanitised and lucrative segment of the fitness industry with its sexual empowerment message diluted.

Musician and broadcaster Nadine Shah, battling a bereavement and gearing up for her first tour in two years, feels the need for exercise and is captivated by the story of Lotte and her Technique. 

With the help of her daughter Esther, who still taught her mother's method into her 80s, Nadine goes in search of Barre’s erotic spark, and so begins a story of love, sex, feminism and striving to feel good in your body.

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